1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to recreational devices, and more particularly to such devices that help develop physical skills in balance, manipulation and coordination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
General platform recreational devices have been invented or used in the past, providing different mechanisms, structures and movements. Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 3,262,701, issued to E. Howland. However, it differs from the present invention because it is a unitary structure without the rotatable platform or the spherical contact plate found in the present invention. Another patent in the field corresponds to U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,726 issued to C. W. Tracy. Here, a freely rotatable ball is mounted to a platform with ball bearings. Even though there is contact with a spherical component, the user will not be able to track or traverse over the bearing surface. Also, the small radius of curvature in Tracy's device limits the possible manipulations since the user's center of gravity has to be vertically projected to a point within the spherical contact area.
Other patents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.